Stabbings, Addictions and Magazines
by robosquirrel
Summary: My first Danimina fic! And I have no idea what to write here best summary ever
1. Chapter 1

**Hello people I doubt most of you will read this but anyways the characters do not belong to me and neither does MODE or any of the other stuff that belongs to whoever owns Ugly Betty. This is my first Danimina fic and I started it a while ago before Connor made himself disappear I'm not sure if it's that good so reviews would be appreciated I need to know wheter I should continue it and if I screw other stuff up like post it wrong tips would also be useful as I' very confused!**

W.S

Wilhelmina threw her coat on a nearby chair, sat down and began to rub her temples slowly to soothe her throbbing headache. Today had been a nightmare everything that could have possibly gone wrong had. Though she had to admit it life at Mode had certainly got better since Connor had given her and Daniel the money back so they could buy out Hartley, she now officially owned half of Meade publications and more importantly half of Mode. Now that Hartley was gone that wrinkled, old, waste of space Claire no longer had any power over her she didn't have to even pretend to listen to her anymore which she thoroughly enjoyed. Her mind turned back to Connor she smiled to herself she would go to see him tonight he could make her forget how much of a pain in the ass Daniel Meade and his family were. Everything seemed to be falling into place she had her dream job and the man she loved she no longer had to choose between the two. Just then there was a knock at her apartment door, curious she straightened her skirt and walked down the long hallway to her front door. Her breath momentarily stopped when she opened the door to see a solemn looking policeman standing there. He looked at her with sympathy something inside of her was screaming to turn and run away find someplace to hide stay there do anything but hear what he was going to say. Maybe it was instinct or a natural reaction yet when he did finally speak he uprooted her world in just a few words. "Ms. Slater I'm afraid we have some bad news..."

Wilhelmina lay on the couch crying uncontrollably an hour ago everything had been perfect sure she had had a headache it was preferable to the unbearable pain in her chest she replayed the policeman's speech in her mind she didn't know why she insisted in going over the moment it all came crashing down around her over and over again but once she had stared she couldn't stop.

_She looked at him "is it about Nico?" thinking of her daughter in who she saw a bit more of herself than she would have liked. "No Ms. Slater it's about Connor Owens, I'm afraid… he's dead, we found him in his cell earlier today, and he'd been stabbed. We are treating his death as suspicious; we are very sorry Ms. Slater." Then she remembered screaming at them that "somebody had murdered her boyfriend in one of their jails where they were supposed to prevent something like this happening and all they could offer her was a sorry! Sorry wasn't bloody good enough!" Then she had yelled at the top of her voice for them to "get out!" _

And as hard as she tried she couldn't remember what happened after that, she woke up in her apartment with their words replaying in her head and broken glass all around her. Connor couldn't be dead she had tried to tell herself over and over again, that it was all a ruse that he knock on her door any second and tell her to come away with him but deep down she knew she knew he was gone which why she now felt like someone had opened up her chest and ripped out her heart. As she drained the last of the scotch from the bottle and wiped her tear stained cheeks she thought of the first time this had happened, the time when it wasn't real, at least this time he knew how much she loved him but this time he was murdered he was taken from her by force and he wasn't coming back.

D.M

Daniel sat in his apartment looking back over pictures of him and Molly together. He'd had trouble finding the album that they were in so the room now looked like it had been ransacked by burglars. There were books strewn all over the floor and yesterday's leftover pizza was still on the coffee table but he couldn't really blame his search for the photographs for that. He was getting better but he'd be lying if he said he was getting over her she still haunted every corner of his apartment and his mind, especially at times like this when he was alone. He had tried to start dating again but as soon as it got past more than a few dates everything seemed to fall apart because all he could think of was her smile, her kiss, her laugh. It was as if no other girl could ever measure up to her. So he threw himself into his work instead which distracted him momentarily but was no help at moments like these. He sighed and decided he was lucky to have been able to share even a small part of his life with Molly. Putting the photo album away he turned and went to bed.

W.S

Wilhelmina lay on her bed, she hadn't gone into work yesterday or the day before and she sure as hell didn't feel like going in today. She hadn't even bothered to call in to offer an explanation for her absence, she hadn't picked up the phone when her assistant called she hadn't picked the phone up when anyone called come to think of it. She hadn't answered the door when people came around but instead she had prayed they would stop their incessant knocking and just go away. Nothing really mattered now that Connor was gone, at the moment she couldn't care less about the outside world she just lay on her bed drinking not bothering to eat properly or even get dressed. The geniuses at the jail had confirmed that Connor was murdered which she could have done days ago, they however had not caught the culprit and all this messing around had delayed his funeral by weeks. Though part of her was glad she was in no state to be seen in public and if the media got their way the scandal surrounding Connors death would be made very public no doubt there would be hundreds of paparazzi at his funeral. Did people have no respect anymore?

D.M

"Where the hell is she?" in was 12 o'clock and Claire Meade was tired of waiting for Wilhelmina Slater's return. Daniel looked up at his mother things had not been going well at the magazine and Wilhelmina's prolonged unexplained absence was not making things any easier. Though explanations weren't really needed Daniel knew why she wasn't in the office he also knew what she was going through and that was one of the reasons he was trying to defend her against his mother which was an almost impossible feat. "Mom could you cut her some slack, Connor was murdered a few days ago you know exactly where she is," he sighed and waited for the abuse that was going to be coming his way any minute now. "Cut her some slack?" Claire gave him a scathing look. "Need I remind you Daniel we are talking about Wilhelmina Slater; I do not cut Wilhelmina Slater slack. That would be like asking me to hug Satan also the fact that she gas been out of the office so long means that this magazine suffers which it was what you should be concentrating, not whether some bitch got her heart broken because her thief of a boyfriend finally got what he deserved." Daniel could not believe his ears, was his mother so bitter that she could not show any compassion for Wilhelmina not even for one second? "Mother you've lost people you know how it feels just relax we can survive for a few more days without her." "Daniel most of the people I have lost were taken away from me by that bitch. She deserved whatever she got." Daniel looked up he knew he was going to pay for this "Have a heart mom." He could hear his mothers loud protests to that particular remark as he walked out of his office as quickly as possible, because as much fun as being murdered by your own mother sounded Daniel Meade did not feel like dying today, he had too much to do.

W.S

Wilhelmina had finally grown tired of the dark lying on her bed in her apartment as she tried to ignore yet another drink induced headache she knew she had to get out even just for a little while. Throwing the curtains open was torture yet it had to be done, had the sun always been this glarey? Was glarey even a word? She didn't think so. Stumbling towards the shower she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and groaned she looked like crap. No, crap was not a fair description of her current appearance, god awful might work better though it still didn't quite cut it. Her hair was matted as it hadn't been brushed for days she had no make up on and the dark circles around her eyes were so prominent that she looked like she hadn't slept for years. Fortunately for her she was Wilhelmina Slater which meant she could heal all physical signs of her heartache easily just give her a make up bag and a pair of extremely large sunglasses. Two hours later the woman staring back at her from the mirror looked entirely different she was well groomed and dressed to kill. Now that Wilhelmina had woken up from her, partially alcohol induced daze she knew that putting her mask back on and rebuilding her armour was essential to her survival going into mode and scaring interns would be extremely… therapeutic. She needed something to take her mind off things and going back to the Wilhelmina that everyone knew and hated would be the perfect distraction from Connor or the lack of him. On her way out the door she picked up her phone fifty missed calls flashed up on her screen. Fifty, really, had her phone rang that many times? Twenty were from her assistant, twenty five were from Marc who she had still not totally forgiven for deserting her and moving over to the enemy camp, two were from a number she didn't recognise possibly journalists and the last three were from Daniel. Well the idiot had no right to complain, he was what thirty seven? He should be able to run a magazine by himself for three days without her being there to stop him from screwing things up. Then looking at her phone again she noticed the day. It was Sunday the offices would be closed, slowly she sank down and sat quietly on the floor. She cursed under her breath why was the world out get her, she was finally ready to go into the office and it was fucking closed!

D.M

When he first heard the unmistakeable clacking of her heels on the marble floor on Monday morning he though he was hallucinating, wishful thinking perhaps but then since when was being in the presence of Wilhelmina Slater a good thing? But when he looked up he saw that his ears were not lying to him because there she stood all wrapped in furs with freakishly huge sunglasses on looking, rather beautiful actually. He stormed up to her, "So going for the Cruella De Vil look today are we? Where the hell have you been for the past week?" Slowly she looked him up and down as if he were dog shit on her six inch Jimmy Choos and replied slowly, "three days actually Danny Boy and it is absolutely none of your business." "I have had to run this magazine by myself for three days and pick up your slack as well! And you didn't even ring in to offer an explanation for your absence, it bloody well is my business!" he growled back at her trying to sound threatening though even he wasn't convinced. This time she lost her temper and practically screamed at him "I've been picking up your slack for the last four years Meade! So forgive me if I'm not sympathetic enough because you had to run a whole magazine by yourself for three days. Learn to do your job," and then she turned on her heel and stormed out leaving Daniel fuming and everyone else staring.

W.S

So the days past as normal, life went on for everyone else as if nothing had ever happened and externally things went on as they had before for her too. Yet inside she still had a huge gaping hole where her heart should be. Not that any of those idiots at the office or those plastic airheads that pretended to be her "friend" for the cameras needed to know. So she strengthened her defences and pretended nothing was wrong though if anything she had become a bigger bitch that usual. She pick a fight with Daniel or Claire for no reason and then hurl the worst insults she could think of at them mercilessly. She fired interns and assistants simply because she could, it was her only current way of reminding herself that she still had power over her life and the lives of others even if that power was just to make people miserable. Her image became her armour once more and she promised herself she would never let anyone hurt her again even if that meant keeping the entire world at a distance.

D.M

Daniel slowly banged his head against a wall he had just finished yet another screaming match with Wilhelmina. To say things had gotten worse between them would be an understatement. Lately mode had been a war zone, Wilhelmina seemed to be in a terrible mood constantly, he had tried avoiding her but she yelled at him for slacking off, he had tried continuing on as normal but she would pick a fight over nothing and scream at him like a banshee yelling insults he thought better not to repeat. Fortunately the magazine did not seem to suffer for though she was throwing temper tantrums worthy of a raging volcano left right and centre she was also throwing herself into her work with more vigour than ever. Yet he knew things could not go on as they were so he had finally worked up the courage to do the dumbest thing of his life. He was going to go talk to her, yes he was going to enter the lions den and he didn't really expect to come out alive. Slowly he knocked on the door. "What!" she screeched from inside her office, well this is going well already he thought and prepared to make mistake number two he stepped into her office. "What the hell do you want Meade? Can't you see I'm busy, I've got an issue to put to bed I don't have time for your damn interruptions!" Just as he thought, this was going to be fun, he wondered silently if he should have wrote his will before coming in here. "I just want to talk Wilhelmina, I come in peace," He raised his hands slightly to show he meant it. She glared at him "and then what will we all hold hands and dance around a campfire? You can't be serious now get the fuck out of my office," He looked at the door leaving seemed to be an extremely good idea he was glad she suggested it, but then mistake number three he continued talking, "Wilhelmina this is what I mean you've been acting strange lately you'll snap at anyone for no particular reason we can't go on like this the magazine will suffer. Is something the matter, is it Connor?" The look she gave him when he had finished talking was nothing short of murderous and then she began talking slowly in a low voice but somehow that made it all the more intimidating, "Listen to me Daniel you have no right to talk to me about what will or won't hurt the magazine. You don't seem to give that particular issue a moments thought yourself after all I haven't let a cult in here yet, have I? Secondly if by any chance I had the over whelming desire to share my feelings with someone what on earth makes you think it would be you? And lastly get the hell out of my office!" she screamed the last bit and Daniel took the hint he practically sprinted out the door. Well so much for the big plan he had no doubt only made things worse.

W.S

As she watched Daniel leave her office as fast as his legs could carry him she felt an overwhelming urge to break something. She let the anger envelop her what right did he have to tell her she was affecting the magazine! What right did he have to talk about Connor! What right did he have to see right to the heart of her problem and bring everything that she had worked so hard to forget in these past weeks back to the surface? How could she spend so long rebuilding her armour and strengthening her defences to watch them all come tumbling down again just at the mention of his name. Connor was gone and she was trying to regain control of her life and her emotions, she hated being emotional it just reminded her of what she lost and what she would never have. She thought that maybe if she screamed louder, worked harder and smashed more glass objects than before she could forget, but unfortunately she couldn't and that son of a bitch Meade wanted her to talk about her problems as if that would make them go away. She picked up her brand new phone and threw it at a near by wall took a deep breath and decided to go to the spa.

D.M

After the um… incident in Wilhelmina's office he decided to leave her alone as much as was humanly possible. She was right why on earth would she talk to him about her problems? After all they were mortal enemies, he just thought he could help her for once his intentions were pure he knew what she was going through. He knew how much it sucked. Mode was still a battlefield but despite the many mistakes he had made that afternoon he didn't think he had made it any worse. Wilhelmina had even let him have the cover which he admitted sounded a bit too good to be true perhaps he should be on his guard.

W.S

Wilhelmina was standing over the mock up book flicking through the pages ripping out Daniel's notes and replacing them with her own. Not all Daniel's comments were rubbish in fact she agreed with him on some points but they were Daniel's notes so therefore they must be destroyed that was just how things worked. She had to admit it was a good issue one of the best yet or least it was after she had made a few adjustments. Just then Daniel stormed into her office and yelled at her "You cut my cover! Why the hell did you cut my cover! We are co-editors in chief as in we each have equal control and you specifically said I could have this cover! Why the fuck did you cut it?" She turned around slowly and gave him a look that would hopefully remind him who he was talking to then she shrugged her shoulders and uttered four simple words she knew would irritate him more than any insults she could throw at him "I changed my mind." "You what! That's your excuse get this into your head Wilhelmina I do not work for you and we are using my cover so deal with it!" Where this new streak of confidence came form she was not sure maybe he just lost the will to live but right now it was annoying and she simply did not have time for it so she looked him right in the eye and took one step forward "Listen to me Meade I cut your cover because it was crap, and this," she said gesturing to the new cover she had laid out on her desk, "Is visionary and that is why we are not using your cover and that is why I am not going to deal with it!" her voice began to rise at the end of the sentence she was no longer clam now she was pissed off. "That is my best work yet and you know it! It is most certainly not crap! You just can't deal with the fact that I'm getting better can you? You can't deal with the fact that now I'm good at what I do" He took a step towards her they were actually inordinately close they would have been extremely uncomfortable if they weren't in the middle of a blazing row, "in case it takes any of the spotlight away from you." "Get this into your head you will never be as good as me! Four years in this job and your barely competent and all your other work up until now has been atrocious so even if this was your best work it wouldn't have much to live up to would it?"

D.M

Somewhere during this speech Daniel had zoned out and suddenly noticed how close she was standing to him, suddenly he noticed how gorgeous she looked when she was furious. He was suddenly felt his breath quickening and an overwhelming urge to kiss her, maybe it was because he was high on adrenaline from their fight, maybe it was because he didn't have anymore good arguments and he already knew he was in trouble or maybe it was because he was never that good at suppressing his impulses but he went with it. He looked into her eyes which were filled with fury, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her towards him pressing his lips roughly to hers. Much to his surprise she didn't pull away instead she kissed him back in fact she more than just kissed him back he felt her pull him closer. However the moment she slammed him up against one of the walls of her office it seemed to break the spell. Suddenly Wilhelmina remembered who she was and more importantly who he was she pulled back so suddenly he almost lost his balance though the stinging slap that connected with his cheek shortly afterwards did not help him keep his balance. A little more than slightly dazed and confused Daniel looked up to see her looking at him with such fury though there was something else laced in there too he didn't get the chance to find out what it was though for before he could even think straight she was yelling again. Except this time it wasn't about the magazine or whatever they had been arguing about all of two minutes ago this time he heard her yell "keep your hands to yourself Meade my boyfriend was murdered two weeks ago," before storming out of her own office leaving Daniel wondering if or perhaps hoping would be a better word he was dreaming.

**Et voila! So should I keep going? If you have any ideas where this storyline should go please feel free to post.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi people thank you so much for the reviews I realy appreciate them and I've tried to make the changes you suggested. Sorry for the really long break I've been busy so with out further delay the next chapter. Oh and I don't own the characters or pretty much anything else they belong to ABC I think sadness.**

W.S

She kept running over the incident in her head again and again wondering what on earth she had been thinking. What had possessed her to kiss Daniel Meade, well he kissed her first but still she had kissed him back! Silently she wondered if she needed to see a psychiatrist people had been locked up in mental institutions for a lot less. Under any other circumstances she would have seen this as an opportunity. She'd think of ways to turn Daniel's desire against him and use it to push him out, to ruin him or even just to find ways to amuse herself at his expense. Funnily enough now she probably had more reason to do this to be a complete bitch to him, after all how dare he even touch her he had no right to lay his hands on her but she had just been so exhausted after everything that happened with Connor. Oh god Connor, how could she have forgotten, how could she have forgotten about her boyfriend who just a few short weeks ago had been murdered. If it had just been for a few moments she would have forgiven herself but ever since Daniel had kissed her, her thoughts had been filled with shame, confusion and him she had been looking for what in that brief moment she had saw in him. Her head fell into her hands she had been thinking about Daniel instead of Connor, she had kissed Daniel of all men Connor's nemesis she was the worst girlfriend ever. Sure Connor was dead but she was still a crappy Girlfriend. The worst of it though was the fact that not thinking about Connor had been a release in fact she had preferred thinking about Daniel than Connor simply because it was easier, because it didn't hurt as much, how awful was that?

D.M

It was a very confused Daniel Meade that sat at his desk on Monday morning he had spent pretty much all weekend wondering what the hell had been going through his mind the night he had, god he didn't even want to think it, kissed Wilhelmina Slater. He began hitting his head off the mode book repeatedly which probably wasn't the best idea as at the moment it looked like he couldn't afford to lose anymore brain cells. Of course he had always thought Wilhelmina was drop dead gorgeous but in a sort of a look but don't touch way. Like those really cute polar bear cubs you know if you hug them you're going to get eaten. He had never thought of acting on his desires, ever.

"Oh god why am I such an idiot?" Daniel hit his forehead with the book again but looked up suddenly when a voice startled him

"Oh Daniel your not an idiot, sometimes you just don't think things through." Betty was looking down at him with her big I'm a morning person smile on her face but suddenly her expression clouded over. "Wait what did you do?"

"Emm… nothing I did absolutely nothing" Daniel tried his best to make this sound believable, rather unsuccessfully. So instead he tried changing the subject, "so I heard they have free tacos in the canteen today."

"That's a lie Daniel free taco day was yesterday, what did you do? Now I'm concerned." She looked it too Daniel was convinced he was going to Betty premature wrinkles from all the worry he caused her.

"Damn it and I was so close! Oh really Betty it's nothing you have to worry about nothing big I swear."

"Daniel I've never seen you look so shifty in your entire life and that says something, I will not ask you again, what did you do?" She fixed him a glare that told him he was not getting out of this one.

"Ehh well I…."

"Go on," Betty was obliviously not taking any crap today

"I kissed Wilhelmina." Daniel looked down at his shoes and tried to pretend he wasn't there maybe the ground would swallow him up?

"You what?" Betty looked at Daniel with disbelief. He could see she could simply not comprehend what he was telling her. Then her voice grew shaky and she sat down on one of the enormous, white and not very comfortable sofas in his office, "I thought you said it was nothing big," she raised her eyes and looked at him, "explain."

"Well I wish I could," Daniel continued to look at his feet which had been his main object of interest since she had started yelling, "but it just sorta happened, I mean one moment we were arguing as normal and the next I get this over whelming urge to kiss her, it was really weird."

"Daniel I thought even you could suppress these, urges of yours when it comes to Wilhelmina! I mean she is Wilhelmina for god sake, what is wrong with you?" Daniel could feel the waves of Betty's disapproval wash over him I mean it wasn't as if she wasn't as if she was trying to hide it.

"I know Betty don't you think I haven't been running this over in my head wondering a what point during the incident I lost my mind? Its not like it meant anything anyway we were both high on adrenaline from trying to rip each others heads off,"

"Sounds more like you were trying to rip each others clothes off," Betty interrupted. This was just about enough for Daniel.

"Betty it won't happen again now don't you have some work to do?"

**Well that was a bit short and pointless but as I said I was busy. Also expect an even longer break this time I'm going on holidays.**


End file.
